China to ban ‘bad media’
THE CHINESE government is planning to create a “blacklist” to stop journalists who break its rules from working, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York. The General Administration of Press and Publication, the agency that controls the country’s media, will “establish a database of media professionals with a bad record”.
A government website said the database was part of a larger plan for new controls on the media, including press identification cards, to be put into effect by June.
It was announced in February that journalists from Hong Kong and Macau would be required to apply for passes from the Beijing government and get permission to visit the mainland — restrictions that were eased during the Olympics.
The new rules will not apply to foreign journalists.